How to generate keyboard keypress events through Python to control PP presentation?

Question

I need to programmatically control powerpoint/pdf presentations (the 4 direction keystrokes need to work at the minimum to go to the previous and next slides).

What

Answer 1

You can use Quartz library for Python, e.g.

#!/usr/bin/python
# Script simulating keyboard events in macOS.
# See: https://stackoverflow.com/q/13564851/55075

import sys
import time
from Quartz.CoreGraphics import CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent
from Quartz.CoreGraphics import CGEventPost
from Quartz.CoreGraphics import kCGHIDEventTap
#from Quartz.CoreGraphics import CFRelease # Python releases things automatically.

class Keyboard():
    shiftChars = {
        '~': '`',
        '!': '1',
        '@': '2',
        '#': '3',
        '$': '4',
        '%': '5',
        '^': '6',
        '&': '7',
        '*': '8',
        '(': '9',
        ')': '0',
        '_': '-',
        '+': '=',
        '{': '[',
        '}': ']',
        '|': '\\',
        ':': ';',
        '"': '\'',
        '<': ',',
        '>': '.',
        '?': '/'
    }


    keyCodeMap = {
        'a'              : 0x00,
        's'              : 0x01,
        'd'              : 0x02,
        'f'              : 0x03,
        'h'              : 0x04,
        'g'              : 0x05,
        'z'              : 0x06,
        'x'              : 0x07,
        'c'              : 0x08,
        'v'              : 0x09,
        'b'              : 0x0B,
        'q'              : 0x0C,
        'w'              : 0x0D,
        'e'              : 0x0E,
        'r'              : 0x0F,
        'y'              : 0x10,
        't'              : 0x11,
        '1'              : 0x12,
        '2'              : 0x13,
        '3'              : 0x14,
        '4'              : 0x15,
        '6'              : 0x16,
        '5'              : 0x17,
        '='              : 0x18,
        '9'              : 0x19,
        '7'              : 0x1A,
        '-'              : 0x1B,
        '8'              : 0x1C,
        '0'              : 0x1D,
        ']'              : 0x1E,
        'o'              : 0x1F,
        'u'              : 0x20,
        '['              : 0x21,
        'i'              : 0x22,
        'p'              : 0x23,
        'l'              : 0x25,
        'j'              : 0x26,
        '\''             : 0x27,
        'k'              : 0x28,
        ';'              : 0x29,
        '\\'             : 0x2A,
        ','              : 0x2B,
        '/'              : 0x2C,
        'n'              : 0x2D,
        'm'              : 0x2E,
        '.'              : 0x2F,
        '`'              : 0x32,
        'k.'             : 0x41,
        'k*'             : 0x43,
        'k+'             : 0x45,
        'kclear'         : 0x47,
        'k/'             : 0x4B,
        'k\n'            : 0x4C,
        'k-'             : 0x4E,
        'k='             : 0x51,
        'k0'             : 0x52,
        'k1'             : 0x53,
        'k2'             : 0x54,
        'k3'             : 0x55,
        'k4'             : 0x56,
        'k5'             : 0x57,
        'k6'             : 0x58,
        'k7'             : 0x59,
        'k8'             : 0x5B,
        'k9'             : 0x5C,

        # keycodes for keys that are independent of keyboard layout
        '\n'             : 0x24,
        '\t'             : 0x30,
        ' '              : 0x31,
        'del'            : 0x33,
        'delete'         : 0x33,
        'esc'            : 0x35,
        'escape'         : 0x35,
        'cmd'            : 0x37,
        'command'        : 0x37,
        'shift'          : 0x38,
        'caps lock'      : 0x39,
        'option'         : 0x3A,
        'ctrl'           : 0x3B,
        'control'        : 0x3B,
        'right shift'    : 0x3C,
        'rshift'         : 0x3C,
        'right option'   : 0x3D,
        'roption'        : 0x3D,
        'right control'  : 0x3E,
        'rcontrol'       : 0x3E,
        'fun'            : 0x3F,
        'function'       : 0x3F,
        'f17'            : 0x40,
        'volume up'      : 0x48,
        'volume down'    : 0x49,
        'mute'           : 0x4A,
        'f18'            : 0x4F,
        'f19'            : 0x50,
        'f20'            : 0x5A,
        'f5'             : 0x60,
        'f6'             : 0x61,
        'f7'             : 0x62,
        'f3'             : 0x63,
        'f8'             : 0x64,
        'f9'             : 0x65,
        'f11'            : 0x67,
        'f13'            : 0x69,
        'f16'            : 0x6A,
        'f14'            : 0x6B,
        'f10'            : 0x6D,
        'f12'            : 0x6F,
        'f15'            : 0x71,
        'help'           : 0x72,
        'home'           : 0x73,
        'pgup'           : 0x74,
        'page up'        : 0x74,
        'forward delete' : 0x75,
        'f4'             : 0x76,
        'end'            : 0x77,
        'f2'             : 0x78,
        'page down'      : 0x79,
        'pgdn'           : 0x79,
        'f1'             : 0x7A,
        'left'           : 0x7B,
        'right'          : 0x7C,
        'down'           : 0x7D,
        'up'             : 0x7E
    }

    # See: https://stackoverflow.com/q/3202629/55075
    def toKeyCode(self, c):
        shiftKey = False
        # Letter
        if c.isalpha():
            if not c.islower():
                shiftKey = True
                c = c.lower()
        if c in Keyboard.shiftChars:
            shiftKey = True
            c = Keyboard.shiftChars[c]
        if c in Keyboard.keyCodeMap:
            keyCode = Keyboard.keyCodeMap[c]
        else:
            keyCode = ord(c)
        return keyCode, shiftKey

    def KeyDown(self, k):
        keyCode, shiftKey = self.toKeyCode(k)

        time.sleep(0.0001)

        if shiftKey:
            CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, 0x38, True))
            time.sleep(0.0001)

        CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, keyCode, True))
        time.sleep(0.0001)

        if shiftKey:
            CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, 0x38, False))
            time.sleep(0.0001)

    def KeyUp(self, k):
        keyCode, shiftKey = self.toKeyCode(k)

        time.sleep(0.0001)

        CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, keyCode, False))
        time.sleep(0.0001)

    def KeyPress(self, k):
        keyCode, shiftKey = self.toKeyCode(k)

        time.sleep(0.0001)

        if shiftKey:
            CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, 0x38, True))
            time.sleep(0.0001)

        CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, keyCode, True))
        time.sleep(0.0001)

        CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, keyCode, False))
        time.sleep(0.0001)

        if shiftKey:
            CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, 0x38, False))
            time.sleep(0.0001)

    def Type(self, text):
        for key in text:
            self.KeyDown(key)
            self.KeyUp(key)

Here is the demo code using above class:

# DEMO
if __name__ == '__main__':
    keyboard = Keyboard()
    if sys.platform == "darwin":
        keyboard.Type('Hello World!')
    elif sys.platform == "win32":
        print("Error: Platform not supported!")

which will simulate typing Hello World! text on the current window.

You can run above code as a shell script. Check the link to the keyboard.py file.

Related question: Generate keyboard events.

Answer 2

You can try PyQt or wxPython

Here is a link for how to handle key press with PyQt - http://www.saltycrane.com/blog/2008/01/how-to-capture-tab-key-press-event-with/

and for wxPython - http://www.wxpython.org/docs/api/wx.KeyEvent-class.html and http://zetcode.com/wxpython/events/